President Thayne announced on March 12th that courses at Lebanon Valley College would be moved online starting March 18th due to COVID-19. While on-campus classes are expected to resume April 14th, the global situation suggests that LVC will continue online learning throughout the rest of the semester. 

While LVC families were assured that our coursework would go "uninterrupted," the reality is that many courses cannot easily transition. Syllabi, outcomes, materials, and methods are vastly changing and diminishing the quality of our education. These are not the same classes that we signed up for. This is, of course, not the fault of our professors, or even The College. These efforts, however, can only succeed so much. 

On top of this transition, students and professors alike are undergoing massive amounts of stress. Some do not have quiet environments to work now that children, siblings, and other relations are all under one roof. Some will eventually need to care for sick family members. The situation unfurling in the world certainly has a negative impact on the mental health of both students and faculty. How can we be expected to thrive in this situation and maintain the same grades?

LVC has policies in which students will receive their current standing grades in a class and end early in times of extenuating traumatic circumstances. Seniors, who have already had the bulk of their education, should be given the option to keep their current standing grade in courses and earn credit, "graduating" early. While there may be concern that they will not meet every requirement for their major (attending a certain amount of events, shadowing for so many hours, etc.), the reality is that this will not happen by the end of the semester anyway.